Rare personal items, art, music, instruments & décor from

Madonna, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kenny Scharf, Bob Dylan,

Patti Astor, The Chelsea Hotel & more up for grabs

New York, NY – September 9, 2024– Guernsey’s will celebrate 60-years of downtown Manhattan’s history and culture by hosting an auction of September 25, 2024, including personal items from Madonna, Patti Astor,  Bob Dylan and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Also included in the sale will be offerings from the fabled Chelsea Hotel, including Janice Joplin’s door, many of the beautiful stained-glass windows, the iconic over-sized neon double faced sign on the top of the hotel, and many more treasures.   

The Guernsey’s auction will be conducted online via LiveAuctioneers.com and invaluable.com.  There will be a live preview exhibition open to the public at The Chelsea at 222 West 23^rd Street in New York City on September 22^nd and 23rd, 2024.

Highlights of the upcoming sale feature personal items owned by superstar Madonna, including earliest guitar and drums, hand-written letters, and audio tapes of her first recorded song. Back in the 1970’s, the aspiring singer and dancer lived with her then boyfriend Dan Gilroy and his brother Ed in a former synagogue in Queens, NY, which still stands. There the fellows taught the ambitious blond how to play on the guitar and drums included in the auction and she began writing and singing her own material.

In addition, there are items from The Chelsea Hotel, which was an incubator of creativity and housed many accomplished and notorious people during this time including Jimi Hendrix, Sid Vicious, Patti Smith, Joni Mitchell, Janice Joplin, and more. The offerings include décor, doors, stunning stained-glass windows, and the 12 enormous neon letters from The Chelsea’s three-story neon sign, which were seen on the opening of Saturday Night Live for decades.

Also, up for grabs, are three early works by now world-renowned artist Jean-Michel Basquiat of his friends and contemporaries, Andy Warhol and Keith Haring. The New York-born artist, who was part of the fledgling downtown scene in the 70s and 80s, created these original portraits in honor of his two friends upon their passing.

Among other lots will be a “tagged” jacket and other personal items owned by Patti Astor, who created Fun Gallery on Manhattan’s lower East Side in the early 1980s and was instrumental in introducing then street artists’ Haring and Basquiat to the world. Astor went on to appear as a film actress and, increasingly in later life, a widely respected art consultant and lecturer.

Other items included in this New York-centric auction include original tape recordings from Bob Dylan, who got his start performing in Greenwich Village clubs.  John Hammond arranged for the then unknown folk singer to record his first album at Columbia Studios. The original tape recordings were gifted to a young blind man who has chosen to sell them and donate the proceeds to an organization that assists the blind.

For further information, please visit www.guernseys.com 

Chelsea Sign

The original individual neon letters from the Hotel’s iconic sign have been professionally restored and mounted so that they can be displayed in any setting. 

Chelsea Stained-Glass Window

For more than a century, New Yorkers passing by the Chelsea Hotel marveled at the beautiful stained-glass windows.

 Chelsea Hotel Doors

Guernsey’s 2018 auction included Chelsea Doors, some of which fetched more than $100,000 each! Several more will be sold in the upcoming event.

Chelsea El Quijote Sign

New Yorkers loved the El Quijote Restaurant within the Chelsea almost as much as they have loved the Hotel. Here is one of its signs.

Madonna’s First Guitars

Madonna’s first songs were played on this acoustic guitar. For her first “performances” on NYC’s streets, she played this electric guitar.

 Madonna’s Drum Set

Madonna learned to play the drums on this set, and then performed with them at NYC’s fabled club, CBGB

Madonna’s First Recordings

While Madonna was learning how to play various instruments, she also recorded the first songs she wrote and sang. These are some of those original recordings.

Madonna Early Recording

A short audio clip of Madonna’s first recordings, never previously heard by the public.

 J-M Basquiat / Warhol

Two original portraits painted by Jean-Michel Basquiat following the death of his good friend, Andy Warhol

 J-M Basquiat / Haring

An original portrait of the late graffiti artist Keith Haring by Jean-Michel Basquiat.